Will Apple launch a MacBook Touch in October?

It's not the first time we've heard rumours of a 'Newton 2.0' (kudos if Apple ever uses that name again) or a tablet Mac but the whisperings have been ratcheted up a notch by a posting at MacDailyNews.

According to the same person who tipped them about the wireless iTunes store a week before it was announced, a MacBook Touch is on the way, "by October at the latest." Read on for more.

The source describes it thus:

Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion's haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at "low" price that will reduce margins.

That last sentence is particularly interesting given that during his quarterly financial results call, Apple's chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, spoke of a key "product transition" that would chop Apple's profit margins to stay competitive with its rivals.

Oppenheimer promised that the new product(s) would have "technologies and features that others can't match." Isn't that what they said about the Newton?

[ Gizmodo]